The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 23, 1997, Page 9, Image 9

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    David Wilson
Sutherland’s
style too rough
for Nebraska
COLUMBIA, Mo. —To say the
least, Missouri’s Jason Sutherland
is always intense on the court. But
Wednesday night against Nebraska,
the 6-foot-1 guard took his inten
sity a little too far.
Take his two fouls in the first
seven minutes of the game. Both
intentional and both committed on
NU guard Cookie Belcher.
“I think he’s a hard player and
he’s a physical player,” Belcher
said, “but some of the stuff he does
is just stupid. It’s uncalled for.”
Sutherland’s style of play has
earned him a reputation from op
posing teams and opposing fans.
In Lincoln last Saturday,
Sutherland was booed by continu
ally by Comhusker fans.
^ Belief, from Mexico, Mo. —
just 30 miles north of Columbia —
said he was not surprised he was
intentionally fouled by Sutherland.
“I knew as soon as I got the ball
what he was going to do,” Belcher
said. “So I just tried to take it to the
hole as hard as I could. I knew he
was going to foul me hard.”
But Missouri Coach Norm
Stewart said he didn’t think that
Sutherland earned his reputation by
playing dirty.
“Jason Sutherland has estab
lished himself a reputation,”
Stewart said. “And that reputation
wasn’t gathered by cheap shots.
That reputation was gathered by
diving on the floor.”
After playing just five minutes
in the first half, Sutherland finished
the game with four points in 17 min
utes.
But he made the shot that
counted the most.
With 11 seconds left, and NU
leading 74-73, Husker forward
Larry Florence fouled out of the
game sending forward Tyron Lee to
the free-throw line.
Lee tied the game making his
first free throw, but he had to leave
the game with blood on his arm.
With the game on the line,
Stewart looked to his gritty player
who leads the Big 12 Conference
in ffee-throw shooting. Sutherland
sank the shot gaving Missouri a 75
74 lead that would become a final
when Belcher missed a free throw.
In the second half, Sutherland
controlled himself fouling just once.
It came 20 seconds after he was
fouled by Florence. The two be
came entangled, resulting in a
scuffle between the two teams —
including the coaches.
Stewart stood up for Sutherland.
“It’s really unfortunate and un
fair,” Stewart said. “But I can tell
you one thing: He can take it.”
For the record, Sutherland refused
to talk with reporters after the game.
Wilson is a sophomore news
editorial major and a Daily Ne
Pine flies into Husker record book
II
Matt Miller
NEBRASKA SWIMMER Adam Pine practices his butterfly. Pine holds
the nation’s fastest time in the 100-yard butterfly this season.
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
Adam Pine was so close to quali
fying for the 1996 Summer Olympics
he could almost taste it. ^
But when Pine’s hand touched the
edge of the pool at the end of the 100
meter butterfly, a time of 54.02 sec
onds flashed on the scoreboard. That
left him in third place, one spot shy
of making the Australian Olympic
team.
The native of Ballina, Australia,
was left wondering what went wrong.
“I was really disappointed after
missing the Olympics,” Pine said,
“especially because I was only off by
about a tenth of a second.
"That’s when I started looking*at
my otner options, ana it s wnai
brought me to the United States.’’
A need for intense competition
and training and a desire to further
his education is what brought him to
Lincoln, he said. Once Pine arrived,
it took him only three months to be
gin to rewrite the men’s swimming
record book.
Last month at the Texas Invite,
Pine broke the NU school record in
the 100-yard butterfly with a time of
47.47, a time that currently leads all
NCAA swimmers. In fact, no one has
bettered the 48 second mark this year.
Assistant Coach Keith Moore —
who coaches the Comhuskers’ sprint
ers — said he expects nothing less
from Pine.
Please see PINE on 11
Huskers
make point
against MU
Nebraska women
beat Missouri for
second-straight time.
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
_
The Nebraska women’s basketball
team beat Missouri by 16 at Columbia,
Mo., just four days ago. So what hap
pened Wednesday night at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center was hardly the
unexpected.
Although a letdown was feasible,
Coach Angela Beck warned the
Comhuskers that beating the Tigers
ityice this week wasn’t enough. NU
needed to win, and it needed to win
big.
Despite owning the seventh-high
est winning percentage in the nation
and the best overall record in the Big
12 Conference, unranked Nebraska has
been shunned from the top 25.
“I told the players we wouldn’t be
measured by if we won, but by how
we won,” Beck said. “We knew that
was the most important thing.
“We need to continue to impress
upon people how good we are capable
of being.”
The Huskers took those words to
heart, blasting Missouri 84-46 in front
of 1,468 fans at the Devaney Center
Wednesday night. NU (14-1 overall
and 4-1 in the Big 12 Conference)
dominated Missouri (7^12 and 0-6) in
nearly every statistical category.
in u, winners or live straight games,
established season highs in field-goal
percentage (57.6) and blocked shots
(7). And although the Tigers won the
battle of the boards 42-35, they con
verted just 21 of 62 field-goal attempts.
Forward Anna DeForge, who was
named the conference player of the
week after exploding for 31 points in
NU’s 82-66 victory over Missouri last
week, said the Huskers accomplished
their goal of wasting MU.
“This game was just perfect,” said
DeForge, who scored a game-high 18
points and grabbed five rebounds. “We
wanted to keep them under 55 points
and we did that. We kept them under
40 percent shooting and that’s another
thing we wanted to do.”
NU’s full-court press defense lim
ited the Tigers to only four points in
Ryan Soderlin/DN
NEBRASKA GUARD LaToya Doage goes up for a shot against Missouri^ Kesha
Bonds. Doage scored 12 points as NU beat the Tigers for the second time in
four nights.
the first 12 minutes of the game. Mis
souri scored on consecutive buckets for
the first time in half with 2:30 remain
ing as the Huskers carried a 34-12 lead
into the locker room.
Missouri made only six field goals
and didn’t attempt a free throw in the
first 20 minutes.
“We had a really good focus in the
first half,” DeForge said. “We came out
fast and created steals right away and
that led to some easy shots.”
The Tigers attempted to make
things interesting after the break.
After NU gained possession on a dis
puted out-of-bounds call, Missouri chipped
went on a 9-0 run to chip away at the Husk
ers’ 20-point lead. The Tigers cut the lead
to 11 and Beck called timeout.
“I told the team we were starting to
play right into their hands,” Beck said.
“It was a methodical style. I told them
«
I told them they were
putting me to sleep ”
Angela Beck
NU women’s basketball coach
they were putting me to sleep.”
The Huskers responded with a 12
0 run to extend their lead to 53-30. NU
outscored the Tigers 31-16 as 14 dif
ferent Husker players saw action.
Five Huskers scored in double fig
ures. After DeForge’s 18, Tina McClain
had 14, LaToya Doage added 12, Jami
Kubik scored 10 and freshman Brooke
Schwartz came off the bench to score
14 points and grab six rebounds.
HI corns
19 short;
Mbzou
holds on
Cookie Belcher’s
miss from the free
throw line seals the
Tigers’ win.
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Hounded all
night by an unforgiving crowd, Cookie
Belcher held in his hands a perfect
chance to silence
the Heames Cen
ter on Wednesday
with one free
throw.
One simple
free throw.
But in the same
arena at which the
true freshman on
the Nebraska bas
ketball team won a
state title less than two years ago,
Belcher missed the front end of one
and-one opportunity, sealing
Missouri’s 75-74 win.
With 1.7 seconds to play in a see
saw battle before a seemingly angry
crowd of 13,300, MU’s Danny
Allouche fouled Belcher in a scramble
to rebound a missed tip ofTyronn Lue’s
errant 15-foot jumper.
After two frill timeouts with the Ti
gers up by one point, Belcher stepped
to the line and the crowd rose to its feet.
“It left my hands and it felt good,”
said the 6-foot-3 guard from Mexico,
Mo., who has converted a team-low 45
percent of his free-throw attempts this
season. “But when I saw it hit the back
of the rim, I just wished one of my
teammates got the rebound.”
Before either team controlled the
ball, the game clock expired, spoiling
the Huskers’ chance to sweep MU for
the first time in four seasons.
“I didn’t think the game was lost
on the last free throw,” said Nebraska
Please see TIGERS on 11